Zenkai
|inventor = Saiyans|user = Saiyans James Spencer Shawn Zesmond Spencer Kaylah Katherine Justin David James Shaun Zesmond Kayla Cell|class = Power Up|color = (Gohan, Goku, Shaun, Zesmond and Kayla) or (Vegeta) & (Goku)|similar = Nightmare's Awakening Pure Progress Rebirth}} Saiyan Power1, known to the fandom as Zenkai (全快) is an ability that is genetically exclusive to Saiyans. The ability is a genetic trait that allows a Saiyan's power to increase substantially after recovering from near fatal injuries. This trait is not exclusive to pure-blooded Saiyans as the lack of hair growth is, as even clones with partial Saiyan genetic data have this ability as well. Examples are half-breed Saiyan's such as Gohan, Kaylah, Kayla and the biological menace Cell. Overview After drinking the Ultra Divine Water and almost dying, Goku presumably got a power boost from not just the water's powers, but also from his Saiyan Power. He also possibly got one after his near death encounter with King Piccolo. During the Namek and Frieza Sagas, Zenkai is an extremely important element of the series, which allows Goku and Vegeta's powers to increase in order to "catch up" to Frieza and his men. However, Zenkai are abandoned (or at least go unmentioned) after the Frieza Saga, but return for one single instance in the Cell arc when Cell returns from his botched self-destruction on King Kai's planet, his power amplified to the point that he has high enough amounts of energy surrounding his body to mimic the style of aura that a Super Saiyan 2 has. Outside the anime/manga series, Zenkai was also mentioned in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (it was stated that Broly survived his execution and grew stronger due to his Saiyan genes), as well as Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming (it was implied that Broly grew significantly stronger while in a coma for seven years after being beaten by Goku and recovering). For example, when Vegeta recovers from his first fight with Goku, his power level went from 18,000 to 24,000, and another was received after being nearly killed by Zarbon's transformed state and healed in a Medical Machine, which the Daizenshuu estimates to have augumented his strength to roughly 30,000. After Vegeta was again near-fatally injured after fighting Recoome, his strength strangely skyrockets enough to have an even power struggle with Frieza's first form (stated to be 530,000), and another, final Zenkai increased his power enough to see Frieza's movements and Death Beams at first, before he begins to put in even more effort. While the dub incorrectly implies that Zenkais only occur with Elite Saiyans, Goku, whom Vegeta and Nappa repeatedly refer to as low-level trash ("clown" in the dubbed anime), receives them many times. This is confirmed by how Krillin states that it was weird how Goku always seemed to grow ever stronger after recovering from fighting devastating battles against powerful foes, how Goku is able to learn and tap into the power of Zenkai's during his gravity training (which in total boosted his power from "over 8,000" to 90,000 in the Namek saga, as 180,000/2 = 90,000), and how Goku's powers again receive an enormous boost after recovering from his battle with Captain Ginyu in the rejuvenation chamber. The primary drawback from the Saiyan Power boost appears to be its lack of consistency. Although a saiyan is supposed to become "more powerful" after recovering from an injury, exactly how much power that is gained appears to be random and arbitrary, in stark contrast to other power boosts such as Kaio-Ken or Super Saiyan, which always boost the users' power in a consistent, set multiplier. This is best displayed during the fight against Frieza. At the beginning of the fight, Vegeta was able to fight on par with 1st Form Frieza, suggesting that his power level was around 530,000, nearly three times as high as Goku's power level of only 180,000 during the battle against Ginyu. When Vegeta strategically exploited the Saiyan Power boost, he expected it to give him enough power to defeat Frieza, but his predictions were wrong. Meanwhile, Goku went from a power level of 180,000 to a power level of 3,000,000 after only a single Saiyan Power boost, despite there being no apparent reason why his power should balloon to that level when Vegeta's didn't. This lack of consistency may explain why the Z-Fighters do not rely on the Saiyan Power boost after the Frieza saga. Potential Limitations During the Frieza Saga, Vegeta tells Krillin that a Saiyan cannot increase their power if the wound is self inflicted, which is the main reason why Vegeta convinces Krillin to injure him so Dende could heal him, allowing him to grow stronger. However this limitation is disputed by Goku's increase in power after consuming Senzu Beans to heal from the injures he received during his extreme gravity training and by Cell powering up after his self-destruction. One possible explanation for Goku receiving a Zenkai during his training is that while some of his injures where self inflicted such as getting hit by his own energy wave, his power increased after healing due to the extreme nature of the training as the extreme gravity also took its toll on Goku's body thus Goku increase power after healing may have been the result of the damage done to his body by the extreme gravity and training itself as a whole, as a opposed to the damage he inflicted on himself by his own attacks (meaning it is possible that his self-inflicted injuries did not contribute at all to Goku's increase in power, and that it was the gravity and training to the brink of death that increased Goku's power after he healed). It should be noted that while Cell's self-destruction qualifies as a self-inflicted injury, it should be noted that Cell is an artificially created lifeform that is only partially Saiyan so he may not have the same limitations as pure Saiyans like Goku and Vegeta or even natural born partial Saiyan hybrids like Gohan, Zesmond, Goten, Trunks, Future Trunks. Film Appearances In Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, Goku experiences another boost after recovering from Cooler's Darkness Eye Beam, able to overwhelm the foe who previously grievously injured him with a single attack. In Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, it is stated that Broly survived his execution and grew stronger due to his Saiyan genes. In Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming, it was noted by Gohan that Broly grew significantly stronger after recovering from his loss against Goku. The fact that Broly appeared stronger in only Super Saiyan than his previous usage of Legendary Super Saiyan implies that Broly tapped into Saiyan Power. In Bardock - the Father of Goku, it was noted by doctors that which each mission he returned from, especially when needing medical attention, he was showing a considerable increase in power. His power level was reaching 10,000. It was even noted prior to the Genocide of the Saiyans that Bardock's power has come to rival King Vegeta. In The History of Trunks, originally Super Saiyan Future Gohan struggled against even 1 of the evil androids (Future Android 17 even noted that he used less than half of his power). By the battle at the Super World amusement park, Future Gohan was able to fight on par with Future 17 and gradually overwhelm him, shocking the foe and forcing him to team up with Future Android 18 to defeat him. Later after recovering, despite having lost his left arm, Future Gohan proved able to overpower both androids simultaneously at their full power, ultimately forcing the tireless androids to instead exhaust Future Gohan to defeat him. These improvements for Future Gohan seemingly came from accessing Saiyan Power. Video Game Appearances In Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu, when a Saiyan reaches less than 5 HP, using a full heal item on him (like a card of Kami) will result in him receiving a Saiyan Power and raise his level by 1. This can be used early on against Raditz, to boost Goku's level extremely high. Also in the game, there is a glitch with Saiyan Power: if a player chooses to level Dende to level 3 (9999 exp earned twice), Dende can heal a character as well. Should he heal a Saiyan that is at 5 HP or below, the Saiyan receives the Saiyan Power, but not the level up. This allows certain characters like Gohan or Vegeta to be boosted to higher-than-usual power levels. Using the Moon Card on Gohan, however, restores his power level to the level it should be. Broly is mentioned to have undergone another Saiyan Power after being blasted into the Sun in various video games, which resulted in him becoming a Legendary Super Saiyan 3. In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, a customize card named "Saiyan Power" can be equipped onto a character and raises their attack power every time they are knocked out. In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Saiyan Power is one of the Saiyan race's unique traits. When a Saiyan falls in battle, and is revived, either through teammate assistance or a Battle Item, they gain a large power boost that lasts for the duration of that battle. A Saiyan Power effect can be applied to non-Saiyans through Z-Souls such as Vegeta's "Saiyans are a Warrior race!" or through Super Perfect Cell's "That was a handy miscalculation". In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Saiyan characters can receive Saiyan Power in the same manner as they did in Xenoverse. Goku Black also possess the Super Soul "This pain will make me stronger!". During the Unknown History Saga, as Super Saiyan Bardock: Xeno fights with Mira inside the Time Rift he had trapped himself and Mira within, Mira notices that Bardock is growing stronger as he fights. This combined with the alterations Towa had done to his body while he was brainwashed implies what allowed him to ascend to Super Saiyan 2 and then Super Saiyan 3 to defeat Mira.4 As part of the Super Pack 1 DLC, Cabba grows stronger like other Saiyan characters do in Xenoverse 2. Interestingly, he will reference this after being revived by saying "I feel great!". This indicates the Saiyans of Universe 6 also possess the ability to receive a Saiyan Power boost like their Universe 7 counterparts.5 Trivia *In the Box Sets of Dragon Ball Z, the term Zenkai is used at the ending of every episode. *While the dub incorrectly implies that Zenkais only occur with Elite Saiyans, Goku a Low-Level Saiyan, receives them many times. This is confirmed by how Krillin states how Goku always grew ever stronger after recovering from fighting devastating battles. *In chapter 303, Vegeta states that a Saiyan cannot experience Zenkai if the wound is self-inflicted. However, Goku, received a Zenkai after healing from injuring himself with a Bending Kamehameha and Cell likewise did after regenerating himself from self-destruction. However, Goku's Zenkai may have come from his extreme gravity training or the external nature of Goku's attack and Cell's Zenkai from his augmented/mixed Saiyan, Namekian, and possibly Frieza's race cells. *It should be noted that Goku's Zenkai occurs before Vegeta reveals that it cannot be obtained by self-inflicted wounds, while Cell's occurs long after. Gallery GohanPoweringUpNamek.png|Gohan using Saiyan Power after being healed by Dende Dbz84-23.jpg|Vegeta power up in Saiyan Power Dbz84-24.jpg|Vegeta using Saiyan Power after being healed by Dende Goku_second_senzu_in_spaceship_lol!.png|Goku using Saiyan Power after eating a senzu bean GokuIsHealed!.png|Goku after healing in the Medical Machine CellPerfectReturnsNV.png|Super Perfect Cell Cell_Super_Perfecto.jpg|Cell using Saiyan Power from his Saiyan cells References # ↑ Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z # ↑ Battle of Gods Animanga Toriyama. kanzenshuu. # ↑ Daizenshuu 7, 1996 # ↑ Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, 2016 # ↑ Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Super Pack 1 DLC Site Navigation Saiyans Category:Techniques Category:Supportive Techniques Category:Canon